By Brian Dunlap As 2019 comes to a close, it’s clear that Los Ángeles writers explore a diverse range of topics, themes, and ideas. As the months went by, writers published novels, essay collections, poetry collections/chapbooks or announced their books had been accepted for publication in 2020. Their writing ranged from exploration of children lost too soon, to a celebration Los Ángeles, to the love … Continue reading Los Ángeles Writers Publish in 2019
Steph Cha discusses her new novel “Your House Will Pay,” the LA Riots, the Korean American Angeleno community, her 3,600 Yelp reviews, and pushing back against gatekeepers in publishing.
By Victoria Namkung
FROM: Longreads
On March 16, 1991, 15-year-old Latasha Harlins went to a local convenience store in South Los Angeles to buy a bottle of orange juice. Owner Soon Ja Du accused the teenage girl of shoplifting, an altercation ensued, and in a split-second captured on video, Du shot Harlins in the back of the head. She died with two dollars in her hand. A jury found Du guilty of voluntary manslaughter, but against their recommendation, the judge sentenced the Korean-born woman to a $500 fine, probation, and community service.
Continue reading “‘I Was Interested In The People Who Are Stuck With These Memories’”
Plenty of literary events this week: open mics, book clubs, readings, workshops, kids, teen and LGBTQIA+ events. Local writers reading this week include: Coco, Linda Albertano and Steven Reigns, among others. Continue reading Los Angeles Literature Events 12/16/19 – 12/22/19
Pages Story Time at Pages Bookstore – Kid s Event
Pages Story Time is offered weekly on Monday mornings at 10:30 pm. Travel by foot, stroller, car or scooter, but don’t miss out on the fun at Pages Bookstore
Where: Pages Bookstore
Date: Monday the 9th
Time: 10:30 pm
Address: 904 Manhattan Ave., Manhattan Beach, CA 90266
Website: https://www.pagesabookstore.com/event/pages-story-time-0
Continue reading “Los Angeles Literature Events 12/09/19 – 12/15/19”
Conchas y Café: Bilingual Community Writing Workshops at Vernon – Leon H. Washington Jr. Memorial Branch Library, LAPL
Our weekly Conchas y Café Zine – Bilingual Community Writing Workshops are free and open to adults. This program offered by DSTL Arts, provides a 12-week creative writing workshop for adults of all ages. Participants learn more about creative writing, poetry, publishing, zine-making, and more, while receiving writing exercises and feedback on their work. Participants also have the opportunity to publish and present their work in a zine of writing produced through the program. A public reading and release party celebrates the culmination of each 12-week series.
Where: Vernon – Leon H. Washington, Jr. Memorial Branch Library, LAPL
Date: Monday the 25th
Time: 6 pm – 7:30 pm
Address: 4504 S. Central Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90011
Website: https://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/conchas-y-cafe-bilingual-community-writing-workshops
Continue reading “Los Angeles Literature Events 11/25/19 – 12/01/19”
Diane Leslie’s Book Club: A Door in the Earth by Amy Waldman at Diesel Bookstore
Author Amy Waldman discusses and signs her new novel, A Door in the Earth at Diane Leslie’s Book Club..
This book is a about an idealistic young Afghan-American woman trapped between her ideals and the complicated truth. Galvanized by a book she reads in college by humanitarian Gideon Crane, sensitive student Parveen makes a pilgrimage to a remote village in the land of her birth to make a difference, only to find the many fabrications in the memoir and decide where her loyalties lie. The author reported form Afghanistan for the New York Times after 9/11, and has created a taut, propulsive novel about power, perspective, and idealism to reveal complicated truths in our living history.
NOTE: This is a ticketed event so check website for details.
Where: Diesel Bookstore, lower outdoor courtyard
Date: Monday the 18th
Time: 5 pm – 6 pm
Address: 225 26th St., Santa Monica, CA 90402
Continue reading “Los Angeles Literature Events 11/18/19 – 11/24/19”
By Lynell George
FROM: Los Angeles Times
The sequence is as predictable as the season itself: The calendar reads “fall” but the thermometer registers 90-plus. The Santa Ana winds kick up. Wildfires zipper across the landscape. Once again Joan Didion whispers in the Southland’s collective ear.
Continue reading “Joan Didion’s California Captured in Sweeping New Collection”
Andreina Perez & Tito, Piece of Heaven at Book Soup
Author Andreina Perez will present and sign her book, Tito, Piece of Heaven.
This is the story of an ordinary girl with no extraordinary abilities, on the contrary, she was quiet and lonely, her outfits were colorful to its maximum that the only thing that would stand out was the misery within the reflection in her eyes; only visible to those brave enough to see through her beyond what the eyes could reach. This ordinary girl without any ability is me: Amy.
Where: Book Soup
Date: Monday the 11th
Time: 7 pm
Address: 8818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069
Website: https://www.booksoup.com/event/andreina-perez-discusses-and-signs-tito-peace-heaven
Continue reading “Los Angeles Literature Events 11/11/19 – 11/17/19”
Kiese Laymon & “What’s Good: Reckoning with the Horror” at The Athanaeum, Claremont McKenna College
Author and comparative literature scholar Kiese Laymon will discuss “What’s Good: Reckoning with the Horror of One of Our Most Overused Words” and will also discuss and sign his book, Heavy.
The author and his presentation will explore the unspoken traumas and joys embedded in the word “good” in his home, region, and in the nation.
Where: The Athanaeum, Claremont McKenna College
Date: Monday the 4th
Time: 5:30 pm
Address: 385 E. 8th St., Claremont, CA 91711
Website: https://www.clarmeontmckenna.edu/mmca
Continue reading “Los Angeles Literature Events 11/04/19 – 11/10/19”
By Denise Alicea
FROM: The Pen & Muse
Set against two distinct epochs in the history of Pasadena, California, Arroyo tells the parallel stories of a young man and his dog in 1913 and 1993. In both lives, they are drawn to the landmark Colorado Street Bridge, or “Suicide Bridge,” as the locals call it, which suffered a lethal collapse during construction but still opened to fanfare in the early twentieth century automobile age. When the refurbished structure commemorates its 80th birthday, one of the planet’s best known small towns is virtually unrecognizable from its romanticized, and somewhat invented, past.
Continue reading “Author Interview With Author of Arroyo, Chip Jacobs!”
Los Angeles Literature 